Kizomba B

Kizomba B Oil Project Profile

Location and Block Details

• The Kizomba B oil project is located in Block 15, offshore Angola, approximately at coordinates -6.273, 11.103 (WGS 84).
• This block was one of the first tranches of deepwater acreage offered by the Angolan Government and was awarded to ExxonMobil in 1994.

Operator and Partners

• The project is operated by Esso Exploration Angola, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, which holds a 40% interest.
• Other partners include Agip Angola (Eni S.P.A.) with 20%, BP Exploration with 26.67%, and Equinor (formerly Statoil) with 13.33%. The Angolan state oil company Sonangol is the concessionaire.

Fields and Reserves

• The Kizomba B project involves the development of the Kissanje and Dikanza oil fields.
• These fields are estimated to contain approximately 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves.

Production and Facilities

• Production from Kizomba B began in July 2005 and reached its designed peak capacity of 250,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in just over two months.
• The project utilizes a combination of a surface wellhead platform and subsea wells tied back to a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.
• The FPSO facility is 285 meters long, 63 meters wide, and 32 meters high, with a storage capacity of 2.2 million barrels of crude oil. It can process 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
• The project includes an Extended Tension Leg Platform (ETLP) with slots for up to 36 dry-tree wells and a drilling unit for drilling, well maintenance, and intervention. Esso planned to drill 17 production wells and 12 injection wells from the ETLP, along with 8 subsea production wells and 9 subsea water injection wells tied into the FPSO.

Geology and Water Depth

• The fields developed by Kizomba B are in water depths of approximately 1,015 meters (3,300 feet).
• The reservoirs are characterized by deep-water channel sandstones with oil-water contacts controlled by structural spill, fault leak, and top seal failure. The hydrocarbons occur in combination structural-stratigraphic traps.

Development and Construction

• The facilities for Kizomba B were built and installed in just 31 months, leveraging ExxonMobil’s “design one, build multiple” strategy to reduce time and costs. This approach allowed for the fabrication and installation of nearly identical facilities to those of Kizomba A.
• The project involved significant investments, with approximately $3.4 billion spent on Kizomba B alone. The overall investment in Block 15, including Kizomba A, B, and C, and other projects, totals around $10 billion.

Production Capacity and Output

• Kizomba B, along with Kizomba A and Xikomba, contributes to a total production rate of 550,000 bopd from Block 15, a rate that was achieved earlier than initially expected.
• The production design capacity for Kizomba B is approximately 91.25 million barrels per year.

Environmental and Local Impact

• The project has involved significant local content, including contracts for in-country fabrication, logistics support, training, and development of Angolan personnel. For example, the Kizomba C project, which is part of the same block, spent approximately $1.5 billion on local goods and services.

In summary, the Kizomba B oil project is a significant deepwater oil development in Angola, characterized by advanced engineering and operational efficiencies, substantial reserves, and a robust production capacity.